Home Office

Migrants: Detainees

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce unlawfulimmigration detention; and what common factors they have identified in the erroneous decisions taken to detain.

Lord Greenhalgh: Reducing instances of when the Courts find that we have unlawfully detained an individual is a priority. As part of our response to the Home Affairs Committee immigration detention report, the Home Office has begun a programme of work focused on litigation outcomes to ensure that best practice is shared, that lessons are learned, and that we reduce instances of unlawful detentionAll detention decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all available evidence as well as any safeguarding concerns. Once detention has been authorised, it must be kept under close review to ensure that it continues to be justified; cases are not only reviewed at regular intervals but also whenever new evidence comes to light in respect of removability, vulnerability and risk factors.Home Office staff working in the detention system are given training and support to ensure detention decisions are lawful and appropriate. Additionally, there are a number of safeguards underpinning detention decisions, including a Detention Gatekeeper who reviews the suitability of individuals for detention and Case Progression Panels, which provide additional assurance and challenge in decisions to maintain detention.

Deportation: Zimbabwe

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they sought legal advice in respect of the Zimbabwean nationals due to be deported on 21 July in relation to (1) non-refoulement, and (2) the risk posed to individuals being deported from the UK to Zimbabwe by the Emergency Travel Document process; and if so, what steps they took as a result.

Lord Greenhalgh: FNOs selected for deportation have either been convicted of an offence that has caused serious harm, are a persistent offender, or represent a threat to national security.Deportation of foreign criminals is subject to several exceptions, including where doing so would be a breach of a person’s European Convention on Human Rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention. All those that were deported on the flight were provided with the opportunity to raise claims, including asylum and human rights claims, prior to their deportation and were given a minimum of 5 working days’ notice of their removal directions, in accordance with published policy.Re-documentation interviews with officials from countries of return are a standard part of Home Office process where an interview is required by the receiving country to enable the confirmation of nationality and identity, in order for a travel document to be produced.All of those that were returned were free of any legal barriers. Our priority will always be to keep our communities safe, and since January 2019 we have returned 7,985 foreign criminals from the UK.

Espionage and Surveillance

Baroness Uddin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to protect (1) British citizens, and (2) governing institutions, against espionage and foreign surveillance.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy identifies countering state threats as a key priority for safeguarding our democracy, society and economy. Our approach, is to deter states from aggressive acts through the prospect of punishment by detecting, attributing and responding accordingly; and by denying them the opportunity to act, through reducing our vulnerabilities and improving our resilience.During the Queen’s Speech in May, the Government announced plans for new legislation to provide the security services and law enforcement with additional tools to tackle the evolving threat of hostile activity by states. Following this, the Home Office launched a public consultation on legislative proposals that seek to:update existing counter espionage laws to reflect the modern threat and legislative standards;create new offences, tools and powers to detect, deter and disrupt hostile activity in and targeted at the UK; andimprove our ability to protect official data and ensure the associated offences reflect the greater ease with which significant harm can be done in an increasingly digital world.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Microprocessors: Manufacturing Industries

Lord Kilclooney: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to encouragemore manufacturingof electronic chips in the UK.

Lord Callanan: The semiconductor industry is strategically important with its technology used by many UK industries. We are engaging with businesses as well as key international partners to ensure we continue to have a trustworthy and reliable supply. The Government is committed to growing the UK manufacturing supply chain, including microelectronics, especially in those areas where there will be significant growth potential, such as Electric Vehicles. The Government continues to encourage appropriate inward investment and trade agreements to allow us to access global expertise and technologies.

Space Technology

Lord Bowness: To ask Her Majesty's Government what department or organisation (1) is responsible for reporting on, and (2) determines the funding to be made available for, innovation in the space industry in the United Kingdom.

Lord Callanan: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) oversees Government’s investment in civil space programmes. The UK Space Agency, a BEIS executive agency, is responsible for developing and delivering programmes to support innovation in the UK space industry. These include:Supporting the UK’s participation in world-class space exploration missions through our leading role in the European Space Agency;Fostering the development of innovative new space-enabled products and services through the National Space Innovation Programme; andEnabling the UK to build new capabilities to launch small satellites into orbit through the Spaceflight Programme’s investment in launch technology. UK Research and Innovation also invests in multi-disciplinary research and development across the UK, which supports the exploitation of space technologies and pioneering scientific discovery. The Ministry of Defence oversees Government’s investment in military space innovation.

Spaceflight: USA

Lord Bowness: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their agreement with the government of the United States of America regarding space launches from the UK will permit launches by US companies in competition with those based in the UK.

Lord Callanan: The Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) establishes the principles under which US spaceflight technology (including launch vehicles, equipment, information, spacecraft) may be licensed for export by the US authorities to the UK for use in spaceflight activities. The TSA was negotiated to deliver maximum possible commercial benefit to the UK, permitting spaceports to utilise both US and non-US operators. The UK has a lot to offer and a lot to gain from working with the US. With the necessary export licences in place, of which the TSA provides the security framework under which the US export approval process can be made easier and quicker, it will allow US satellite customers to launch on UK launchers therefore providing great opportunities for UK launch providers to increase their access to customers from the US.

Department of Health and Social Care

Health: Disadvantaged

Baroness Manzoor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health inequalities that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in cardiovascular diseases; and what steps they are taking to rectify this issue.

Lord Bethell: The Government has made no assessment of the health inequalities from the COVID-19 pandemic for cardiovascular diseases. However, NHS England is collating audits data and feedback from NHS services. The NHS has made clear that a central part of responding to COVID-19 and restoring services must be to increase the scale and pace of system-wide action to tackle inequalities, with a particular focus on the issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent NHS England and NHS Improvement planning guidance outlined the health inequalities delivery strategy from a national and local perspective which prioritised eight key urgent actions to address inequalities in NHS provision and outcomes. Action four emphasises the need to accelerate preventative programmes which proactively engages those at greatest risk of poor health outcomes, which includes prioritising and addressing cardiovascular disease.

Out-patients: Databases

Lord Black of Brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking tointroduce comprehensive diagnostic and outcome data collection on outpatient appointments within the NHS.

Lord Bethell: Detailed information is collected and published on diagnostic and outpatient appointments. These data sets include Hospital Episode Statistics, Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity, and Diagnostic Imaging Dataset.We are working to improve the range of data we collect on diagnostic activity to support the delivery of the Sir Mike Richards Review, Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal.We are also working to improve outcome data collection for outpatient appointments, and from April 2022, a new facility will be available in outpatient data collection, which will report on the ‘latest Clinically Appropriate Date’ by which the patient should next be seen or reviewed.

Travel: Coronavirus

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to facilitate international travel,based on secure records of COVID-19 vaccination history.

Lord Bethell: We are working with international partners to ensure a safe return to international travel, utilising mutual recognition and verification of COVID certification solutions. To facilitate international travel, we are supporting United Kingdom (UK) residents to demonstrate their vaccination status using the ‘NHS COVID PASS’ which can be used for their outbound travel. Since 19 July, passengers arriving from amber countries (except France) who have been fully vaccinated through the UK vaccination programme do not have to quarantine when entering England or take a polymerase chain reaction test on or after day 8 post arrival. From 2 August passengers who are fully vaccinated in many European countries with vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency or Swissmedic and can show an EU Digital COVID Certificate, or who have been fully vaccinated in the United States of America (US) with vaccines authorised by the Food and Drug Administration and can show a CDC card and proof of US residency, will be able to travel to England from amber list countries (except France) without having to quarantine or take a day 8 test on arrival.

BGI

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that UK clinics are selling BGI Group’s tests for genetic conditions such as Down’s syndrome, and (2) that BGI Group is (a) using these tests to harvest the genetic data of millions of women and their unborn children, and (b) storing this data on a gene database funded by the government of China; and what plans they have to ban BGI Group in the UK.

Lord Bethell: There has been no specific assessment of BGI Group’s tests. Public Health England and NHS England have confirmed they do not use BGI technology in their genomic screening services.On the information provided, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) would anticipate that this type of device would be classified as a List B In-Vitro Diagnostic, which requires the oversight of a conformity assessment body before being placed on the United Kingdom market. The device must comply with the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 No.618. The MHRA understand BGI genetic screening tests are currently available for sale in the UK. These devices do not appear to have been registered with the MHRA at this time, however, due to their risk classification, registration will be required from 1 September 2021 in order to continue placing the products on the market.Access to health data is controlled by the Data Protection Act 2018 (which incorporates GDPR in UK domestic law) and the common law duty of confidentiality and we have no plans to change these. The Government is clear that health and care data should only ever be used and/or shared where used lawfully, treated with respect, held securely and where the right safeguards are in place. The UK’s high standards of data protection will be maintained and enforced.As outlined in the Genome UK strategy, all our genomic data systems will continue to apply consistent high standards around data security and our intention is that the UK model will be recognised as being the gold standard for how to apply strong and consistent ethical and regulatory standards that support rapid healthcare innovation, adhere to legal frameworks, and maintain public and professional trust.There are no grounds to prevent BGI Groups operating in the UK provided they comply with UK legislation and regulatory requirements.

Travel: Coronavirus

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on UK citizens who wish to travel overseas of any new (1) travel, (2) entry, and (3) quarantine, limitations introduced as a result of the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions on 19 July.

Lord Bethell: There has been no assessment carried out of the impact on UK citizens who wish to travel overseas, as no new travel, entry, or quarantine limitations have been introduced as a result of the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions on 19 July.

Travel: Quarantine

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the prevalence of the Beta variant of COVID-19 in (1) mainland France, and (2) French overseas territories, when deciding to require British citizens to quarantine when returning to the UK from France.

Lord Bethell: The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. This risk is based on factors such as the level of community transmission of variants of concern or variant under investigation, levels of testing, genomic sequencing and reporting. The JBC assessed that France is a high-risk COVID-19 destination due to the circulation of variants of concern, most notably the beta variant, which is the variant that presents the greatest risk for vaccine escape. As of 19 July, GISAID data shows there have been to date 2,959 cases of beta in France (5.2% of all cases uploaded) compared to 1,052 cases of beta in the United Kingdom (0.2% of all cases uploaded), 44 cases in Greece (0.5% of all cases uploaded) and 621 cases in Spain (1.4% of all cases uploaded), from the start of the pandemic. GISAID is a live repository and the number of sequences attributed to a specific lineage, country or region may be revised upwards or downwards as new lineages are identified and countries update and amend their data. The quarantine rules and testing for travellers into the United Kingdom from France will significantly decrease the risk of importing beta cases, which could then grow rapidly into community clusters or outbreaks.

Key Workers: Quarantine

Baroness Manzoor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, tochange the self-isolation period before 16 August for key workers who have received two COVID-19 vaccines so that they do not have to self-isolate if contacted by Test and Trace; and whether they will list those professions which fall under the key worker category.

Lord Bethell: To protect the delivery of public services before the self-isolation rules change on 16 August, a very limited number of named critical workers will be informed that they are considered to have a reasonable excuse to leave self-isolation to attend work if they are contacts. This will only apply to workers who are fully vaccinated (defined as someone who is 14 days post-second dose) and is solely for the purpose of going to work. To mitigate the risk of increased transmission, certain conditions must be followed. This is a short-term and highly focused measure intended to apply only in exceptional circumstances with the core purpose of preventing significant harm to public welfare as a result of disruption to critical services. The list of sectors that are currently eligible for consideration are as follows: Border Control; Clinical Consumable Supplies; Digital Infrastructure; Emergency Services; Energy (including Civil and Nuclear); Essential Chemicals; Essential Defence; Essential Transport; Food Production and Supply; Health and Social Care; Local Government; Medicine; Medical Devices; Waste; Water & Veterinary Medicine.

Coronavirus: Screening

Baroness Rawlings: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of (1) the quality of NHS COVID-19 PCR tests, (2) the reasons why airlines do not accept the results of NHS tests in order to travel, (3) the additional cost for travellers of paying for privately-provided tests, and (4) which private sector companies are benefitting from these business practices.

Lord Bethell: All polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are validated centrally and verified locally as a minimum prior to use. The results of the validation and verification are reviewed by independent subject matter experts in the field prior to laboratories testing individuals’ samples with the assays. PCR tests in all laboratories are subject to an enhanced variant of concern assurance program, facilitated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS Test and Trace. National Health Service tests cannot be used for travel in order to preserve existing testing capacity to protect public health. Since requirements were introduced for international travel testing, the costs of testing have fallen significantly. We are committed to working with the travel industry and private providers to reduce the cost of travel testing and we have made NHS Test and Trace tests available at the market mid-point.A list of private providers used for testing purposes is attached, due to the size of the data. Some organisations which have self-declared that they meet the Government’s minimum standards for the type of testing service they offer have opted out from publication of their details of the Government’s centrally held list.General Private Test Providers (docx, 81.0KB)

Medical Records: Data Protection

Lord Strasburger: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the NHS Digital project to collect General Practice data for planning and research inEngland, whether they plan to place documents relating to the (1) transparency, (2) accountability, and (3) risks of the project in the Library of the House; and if so, when.

Lord Bethell: We have no plans to do so. NHS Digital has published a transparency notice and privacy notice for the programme, which is available in an online only format.The Data Provision Notice for the data collection outlines that NHS Digital have responsibility and accountability for the dissemination of data as the Data Controller under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulations. Following the deferral of the implementation of the programme for further engagement with stakeholders, the Data Provision Notice has been withdrawn to reflect these discussions.The Data Protection Impact Assessment for the data collection which details the privacy related risks and mitigations will also be published online following its final assurance processes.

Medical Records: Databases

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the 2016 NHS Digital report on the Care.data programme.

Lord Bethell: We will publish the report on the Care.Data program in the Autumn.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessmentthey have made of the number of hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 before restrictions would need to be implemented again.

Lord Bethell: Our approach has always been focused on data, not dates, in determining whether it is safe to proceed. In order to pass the tests and proceed with Step 4, we will need to be confident that easing will not lead to a surge in infections that could put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. However, we have seen time and time again that the virus is unpredictable, and circumstances can change. We know there are risks ahead, not only from new variants, but also seasonal changes in transmission. We will continue to monitor the data closely and take action if needed to keep the public safe and prevent unsustainable pressure on the NHS.